P. T. Barnum Quotes

“Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now.”

“Fortune always favours the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.”

“Depend upon your own personal exertions.”

“Perseverance is sometimes but another word for self-reliance.”

“There is no such thing in the world as luck. There never was a man who could go out in the morning and find a purse full of gold in the street today, and another tomorrow, and so on, day after day.”

“Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed.”

“Don't mistake your vocation.”

“No man has a right to expect to succeed in life unless he understands his business, and nobody can understand his business thoroughly unless he learns it by personal application and experience.”

“Don't get above your business.”

“Do not scatter your powers.”

“Let hope predominate, but be not too visionary.”

“Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.”

“Advertising is to a genuine article what manure is to land: it largely increases the product.”

“He who is without a newspaper is cut off from his species.”

“Preserve your integrity. It is more precious than diamonds or rubies.”

“As a general thing, I have not "duped the world" nor attempted to do so. I have generally given people the worth of their money twice told.”

“I care nothing whatever for any sect or party under heaven, as such. I have no axes to grind, no logs to roll, no favours to ask. All I desire is to do what is right, and prevent what is wrong.”

“Money is in some respects life's fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.”

“True economy consists in always making the income exceed the out-go. Wear the old clothes a little longer if necessary; live on plainer food if need be.”

“There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt.”

“Every man should make his son or daughter learn some useful trade or profession, so that in these days of changing fortunes of being rich today and poor tomorrow they may have something tangible to fall back upon.”

“The foundation of success in life is good health: that is the substratum of fortune; it is also the basis of happiness.”

“In the United States, where we have more land than people, it is not at all difficult for persons in good health to make money.”

“The noblest art is that of making others happy.”

“Men, women, and children who cannot live on gravity alone need something to satisfy their gayer, lighter moods and hours, and he who ministers to this want is, in my opinion, in a business established by the Creator of our nature.”